Bio of BROOKS, Anson S. (b.1852), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest;
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev.
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical);
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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ANSON S. BROOKS - Vol III, pg 318-321
For generations Minneapolis was the greatest single lumber producing point in
the world as well as the principal lumber market in the Northwest, and among
those identified with that industry is Anson S. Brooks, vice president of the
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company. Mr. Brooks was born in Redfield, Oswego county,
New York, September 6, 1852, his parents being Dr. Sheldon and Jeannette
(Ranney) Brooks. In 1856 the father, realizing the great opportunities of the
fast growing west, re­moved with his family to Minnesota, settling on a farm in
Winona county, where he practiced medicine and conducted farming operations on a
small scale. He was also interested in the grain business in Wabasha county. He
built a home in the White-water valley and laid out a town which he called
Beaver. Two years after his arrival within its borders, Minnesota was admitted
to statehood and Dr. Brooks attained prominence in public affairs, being made a
member of the second state legislature for the term 1859-60, thus taking part in
shaping the early policy of the state. He continued to be a man of strong
influence and a power for good in his community until his death in 1883.
In the public schools of Winona and Wabasha counties Anson S. Brooks acquired
his education and when fifteen years of age took up the study of telegraphy with
the old Northwestern Telegraph Company, afterward becoming an operator for the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, with which he was connected for a few
years. He next joined his father in the grain business and was thus occupied
until his twenty-first year, or until 1873, when, in association with his two
brothers, Lester and D. F. Brooks, he organized the firm of Brooks Brothers,
grain dealers. This firm remained in the grain business until 1897, or for a
period of twenty-four years, at the end of which time they disposed of that
phase of their mercantile interests. In 1897 they owned thirty-five country
grain elevators and had extensive holdings of other property subsidiary to their
grain interests necessary for their successful opera­tion. The firm, however,
still remains actively engaged in the lumber industry. In 1888 they established
the Brooks Elevator Company but sold their interests in the undertaking to
devote all of their attention to the lumber trade, to which they had extended
their activities, and in 1901 the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company was or­ganized
with a capital of one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to engage
exclusively in the manufacture and wholesaling of lumber. Mr. Brooks is a
director of the First National Bank of Minneapolis.
Mr. Brooks was united in marriage to Miss Georgie Andros and they have be­come
the parents of two sons: Paul A., who is now associated with his father in
business; and Stanley, who died in 1907, at the age of twenty-one years, while
at­tending Yale University. Mr. Brooks is a republican in his political views
and he. is a member of the Minneapolis, Automobile, Lafayette and Minikahda
clubs, while for forty-eight years he has been identified with the Masonic
fraternity.